Made of Clay
by Esther-Brie
Summary: Before Naruto Uzumaki was born, in the beginnings of Konoha, the world was as impressionable as clay, and many were up to the task. The events that would occur in those dawning days would choose the course of the young Villages forever...
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Watch the potter's wheel, my child

And know that he's no fool.

With every intention of molding the pot correctly

He troubles it and worries its clay into shape.

The clay does not know the potter, perhaps

But the potter knows his clay.

He knows what he has planned for it

And shapes it accordingly.

Some may be raised to greatness

Urns of great heroes

Vases of great value

Some may be thrown to pieces

Clay pots scattered against the rocks for their noise

Or in grief.

Do not wonder why this is so

Because it only is.

Fate is a potter skilled at his trade:

Watch his wheel

And you may learn his craft.


	2. Kameko

**Chapter 1**

Some people remember everything. Kameko's mother was one of them.

"Don't step outside!" she screamed, one afternoon when Kameko was five. "Don't step outside, my baby!"

And she immediately rushed to her daughter's side, embracing her, crushing her. Kameko learned from a young age how to squirm away. This always made Ren feel as if her daughter did not love her any more. She wanted to confer her fear upon her child: she wanted Kameko to remember, but not _remember._ It was important that Kameko fear the outside world, fear the other Uchihas, and stay inside the 'castle'.

It had been five years since the attack, but Ren still remembered it. Perhaps not too clearly--but well enough. Well enough. No, her daughter was not going to exit the house when that monster lived. The _Kyuubi._ That wretched invention of Madara's. Ren shuddered and pulled the blankets up to her chin, her eyes flicking to the room where Kameko slept.

The women in the village snickered at Ren behind her back; she was sure of it.

'_But I know. I __**know!**__' _Ren thought to herself, smiling.

Sometimes she understood she was losing her mind. Those were the times when she acted normal, struggling to be normal. She let Kameko play outside. (_Why did she not fear the Fox? Why didn't her pain and fear seem to affect the child at all?_) But soon after, something little would happen, like a cloud passing over the sun, or a branch rapping the window smartly, and Ren would be unable to control herself. She ran outside and collected little Kameko into her arms and hugged and kissed her and put her to bed protesting, no matter how early it was or how empty her stomach was. Because in bed Kameko was safe--_Ren_ remembered the reports and comments afterwards. _She _remembered that the only ones in the village who had stayed entirely safe were the ones in their beds or in their bunkers.

She did not spoil the child. Kameko learned that meals were not a guaranteed thing. Sleep was erratic. Sometimes Ren would keep her up until three o' clock in the morning, reading to her by candle flame, screeching at Kameko whenever the girl swayed.

"This is important!" she would say, shaking her. "You must survive!"

And the neighbors would hear, and turn over in their beds.

"Poor girl, poor woman," they would say. "Ren never did get her mind back after the Kyuubi killed her husband."

They did try to interfere--who wouldn't? And more than once Ren was faced with officers at her door, telling her that some of the Village women were getting worried; Kameko was looking thin. Ren would hasten to feed her child, horrified by her own neglect. But little by little, she realized during her sane sessions that she was becoming steadily insane. She was losing bits and pieces of the day, freezing up for no reason for many minutes on end. Kameko had told her so, her eyes very wide and frightened. Mommy would be holding her, rocking her and singing her a song, and then right in the middle she would stop and hold onto Kameko so tightly that it hurt and wouldn't move for _ages_. And then when she came back she would keep going as if nothing had happened.

When Kameko was six, three officers arrived at the house. Ren answered the door with a tag-bomb in her hand.

"What do you want?"

Two of them were middle-aged men, members of the police force. But one of them was young, twelve at most. He was the young prodigy that the Village women had been so cackled about for the past few weeks.

Ren's hair was disheveled and there were deep bags under her eyes. Her clothes were messy. There was a stain underneath her lip: sauce. A pot of stew was boiling on the stove. Tea was hissing in its pot. The floor was littered with baby toys that Kameko was much too old for. The windows were grimy.

"You sent for us, ma'am," said one of the older ones, and broad sort of fellow by the name of Yugato.

The mother shuddered. "I did no such thing."

"You did, ma'am. We recieved a note at the station. 'Help me, I'm afraid I'll hurt Kameko next.' It's right here." The other man, Masaki, produced the note from a pocket. Ren stared at it. It was indeed her handwriting. She vaguely remembered penning it one night when she was afraid she was losing her sanity. But now she was back and she knew she was sane.

"Oh," she said, smiling. "You see, that was a mistake. Little fit of mine. You know how it is. We all get depressed once in a while. Well, good-bye, officers." She began to close the door, but Masaki caught it.

"No, ma'am. I'm afraid we cannot ignore this. Children at stake. You're going to have to let us inside."

Ren trembled. "You...you have no right!"

"This has gone on long enough. The Head has been worried long enough over parents like you who have lost their minds over the Kyuubi incident. We've already taken several children from their homes, Ren-san. Please do not think we will hesitate to remove your daughter as well."

She crumpled to the floor, sank to her knees. Masaki pushed the door open, scraping Ren's knees, but she did not seem to care.

The three officers stepped inside and began to look around.

Eto, the prodigy, was the first to find Kameko. She was in a broom closet. For a few mistaken moments the three thought that Ren had put her their and generally made a commotion, but after the initial shock had blown over, Kameko admitted she had hid there herself.

Her mother moaned from her place on the floor. She began to crawl towards Kameko.

"My child! Ooh!" She reached for her. Masaki stopped her hand with his boot. Ren slapped at the leg. Then, with a feral scream, she bit it, grabbing hold and sinking her teeth into the leather as hard as she could. Masaki yelped and swung his leg out, bruising Ren's delicate face, bloodying her nose. He tugged on her head, falling on his bum as he tried to remove her. Eto hit her gently on the back of the neck, Ren moaned and shuddered, and was still. Her jaw loosened and Masaki was able to free himself. There were bloody tooth marks in his leg now. He would wear them for many years to come.

Kameko had been screaming during this whole ordeal, it took several minutes to get her to stop. She settled onto a soft, constant crying and ran to her mother, throwing her arms about Ren's neck. She shoved her face into Ren's bloody mass of hair and sobbed. She didn't understand. Why were these men here, and why had Mommy bitten them? Was it because they were bad?

Several long minutes passed. Kameko's wails only grew louder.

"She's not dead," said Yagato, squatting down beside her and touching her back. Kameko shivered and stopped wailing. She hiccupped and groaned until she could speak.

"Why'd she do that?" she asked him.

"Your mother isn't in her right mind right now. But we're going to take her to a place where we hope she'll get better. Is that alright? Would you like to come with us? You can help us with your mom."

It was hard not to trust Yagato. He had very kind brown eyes behind his glasses and a soothing, calm face. There was a very light stubble on his chin. Kameko had never seen such a thing before. She longed to touch it, but she felt too shy. And Mommy was wrong. Kameko's hiccups continued long after the visit to the station, where she was allowed to touch the shiny shurinkens on the walls and to pull on the wallpaper as much as she liked, because they were getting new paper next week...and that made her feel a little better.

The most horrible thing was when Mommy woke up and Kameko was on the other side of the glass and Mommy threw herself against the glass when she saw her, and cried and wailed and screamed and beat her fists against the glass and wanted to hold her, and Yagato told Kameko to go outside. Just when she was walking out the door, Kameko heard Ren's voice raise to a high-pitched scream.

"_I loved you! I love you! Come back! __**Come back!**__"_

Kameko sat on the front steps of the station, her back bent and her hands in her lap, and she cried. But she did not go back inside until Yagato said that Ren was asleep.

There was a home for the boys and girls who had been taken from their parents, and it was called an orphanage. It was made of white stone, and there were lots of children in it, and they were all allowed to go outside whenever they wanted as long as they were back in time to be put to bed. Kameko was terrified when she first came in. Yagato's soothing hand on her back wasn't much of help, but without it, she would have fled. What seemed like hundreds of little children amassed in the playroom. Some were older than her; some were younger. Infants crawled along the floor in pajama suits. The orphanage was noisy. At Kameko's house, it had always been very quiet. The noise assaulted her ears and the colors assaulted her eyes. She covered her ears.

"Noooo!" she screamed, and she buried her face into Yagato's leg. Several of the children stopped to look at her, but then they recommenced playing. One girl of about seven years old with a bright red bow in her black hair dropped her toys and came over to blatantly stare at Kameko.

"Well watcha doin'?" she said, but then stepped away because she was shy of Yagato.

He put his hand on Kameko's head. "This is the place you're going to stay until we find another place."

"No, no!" Kameko said, shaking her head. Her voice was muffled. "I don't wanna stay. I wanna go home."

"You can't _go_ home, sweetheart..." he said, patting her head. Then he kneeled down and took her shoulders into his hands. "Tell you what, I'll play with you until it's dinner time, and then in the morning you can come over to the station if you want. How does that sound?"

Kameko sniffled. "I wanna go home."

"But you can't, Kameko-chan. That's just the point. You can't be at home alone. Mommy's not well enough to leave the hospital. Can you be a brave little girl and stay here?"

She wiped her nose on her sleeve. She was wearing a striped turtleneck and a black skirt with neat little Mary-Jane shoes. Yagato had helped her shine them, and so had a nice lady with frizzy blonde hair and big teeth.

"Yeah," she said hopelessly. "But you don't gotta stay. I can do it."

Yagato patted her on the head again. "You'll also have to go to school soon. You're of age. Do you understand?" His voice was very kind.

"I understand."

"Clever girl," said Yagato, and Kameko glowed.

Then he left, and she was at the mercy of the rest. They mostly left her alone while she sat in the corner and stared at them. But every once in a while one of them would ask a question and she would answer, not smiling.

"My name's Kameko." Lots of times.

"I'm six." A few times.

"No thanks." Over and over.

She was unhappy. Yagato came to visit her almost every day; she was too scared to walk over to the station at first. (He set about fixing this problem by taking her on walks every day, each time a little farther away from the orphanage. After a while her phobia subsided and she began to enjoy these walks, but she still liked being at 'home' the best.) But she didn't make many friends in the orphanage. They were all very loud and very in your face and frontal. It scared her silly when someone told her they wanted her to play with them. She would stammer out an apology and a refusal, or else be swept away tugged by their hand to the group and go about the motions of playing until she could separate herself. Sometimes she cried; she just couldn't help it. Noone seemed to understand. After a while the other children seemed to give up on Kameko and just let her be. But Yagato was nice and polite, and he kept her safe and made her feel happy.

He asked her once if she would like to go see Mommy. Kameko, feeling very happy after a long walk and a stop for ice cream, had said no. Yagato smiled and never brought up the subject again, and after a few weeks Kameko had gotten used to the rhythm and the pattern of the orphanage, although she still made no friends. She had not forgotten living with Ren in their house at the edge of the Village, but she slowly stopped thinking about it.

Then the day came that she needed to go to school. Yagato had prepared her for this for a long time. He'd told her lots of stories about his time at school, good and bad ones. Kameko felt vaguely uneasy about the whole idea. There would be a lot more children than were at the orphanage. _Older_ children, some as old as _twelve_, which to Kameko felt eons away. But Yagato said that that was where you learned how to read and write and be a ninja, just like he and the others on the police force were. That idea made Kameko excited. She wanted to be a ninja very much.

She entered the classroom in single file with the other cadets, trying to look happy and smiling like the others, and she couldn't help bouncing a little. She sat down in a seat that had her name card on it. That name card made her very happy. She was proud to have a card with her name on it. And the sight of the inkwell on her right was very exciting. Everyone had a brush of their own. The teacher said that her name was Tanka-sensei and asked each one of them to say their name when she pointed at them. Some were very shy and said their names so quietly that noone could hear, and Tanka-sensei put her hand to her ear and said "Wha-aaat?" and then they would say it a little louder. Kameko, on the other hand, fairly shouted it.

"I'm Kameko!" she yelled, beaming.

Tanka-sensei grinned in the phony way that some adults did. Kameko immediately felt embarrassed. She blushed. A couple kids laughed. Kameko wanted to cry.

"There's no need to be so loud, Kameko-chan. When we want to yell, we have to wait until we are outside. Let's use our inside voices from now on, okay?"

Kameko nodded, too humiliated to speak, and suppressed a sob. Her lips tightened. Tanka-sensei pointed at the next person. It was the little girl who'd had the red bow in her hair on the first day at the orphanage. She was peering sideways at Kameko.

"And I'm Sumi!" she said, half-shouting when Tanka-sensei cleared her throat.

Giggling amongst the students.

"Now, remember, Sumi-chan. No shouting in class."

And she moved on to the next cadet.

After everyone had said their names, Tanka-sensei asked them to pick up their brushes. Chatter broke out amongst the cadets as they did this. Kameko liked her brush; it smelled new and felt wonderfully round and firm. She ran it across the name card experimentally. Tanka-sensei caught her.

"_Now_, Kameko-chan, you can't do that or the hairs will come out!" she panicked, grabbing the brush out of Kameko's hands. Kameko shoved her hands into her lap.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Here," said Tanka-sensei, more kindly. "Hold it like this. It'll give you the best shape for your characters." And she held it straight up like it was a tree growing out of the paper. Kameko took it from her and held it like a tree. Tanka-sensei beamed at her. "I like you. I know you're going to be a good student," she said to her very quietly, and she moved on to the next student. Kameko did not know what to think. She was very glad that Tanka-sensei liked her, but she did not like how Tanka-sensei fussed about everything.

Everyone in the class made several attempts, mostly disastrous, to write their names, copying the characters on their sheet. Kameko concentrated very hard, but she could not seem to get it right. Her characters always looked too loopy and slanted to the right. A small hand grabbed hers. It was a red-haired girl with a pinched face.

"You gotta do it like _this,_" she said, accidentally jamming Kameko's brush onto the table, leaving a large ink spot. The girl looked at it, horrified. "It was an accident, Tanka-sensei!" she squeaked.

The teacher scurried over.

"Loka-chan," Tanka-sensei said. "You can't grab people's hands. Now tell Kameko-chan you're sorry."

"I'm sorry," mumbled Loka. She offered her brush to Kameko; Kameko's was ruined. But Kameko shook her head.

Tanka-sensei hurried away to get her another one, and to dispose of the first, which was ruined beyond repair. Kameko took the new brush and dipped it into the inkwell. She did not feel as excited as before about writing. In fact, she wanted very much to leave and cry and go on a walk with Yagato.

And then, just when she was feeling very miserable and alone, the bell rang. She jumped. Yagato had told her that when the bell rang she would be allowed to go. Kameko threw down her brush and ran, not looking back once.

Things in school remained in their exciting-worse, happy-better way. Kameko sometimes liked it and sometimes didn't, and still she made no friends. She discovered that she was good at school. She found it easy to learn to read, although like everyone else she had a lot of trouble with writing. Ren had read to her night after night and after a while, Kameko had learned what a lot of characters meant. Tanka-sensei maintained that she was a good pupil and that she liked her. Every once in a while she would give her some interesting scroll to take home and read. Kameko continued to cling to Yagato whenever he was around, and to feel lonely. But the other children continued to frighten her with their loudness or ignore her.

And then, one day, she was sitting in class and reading along with a story, and she heard a very small _shf._ When she looked down, she saw a note. It was written in formal speech.

_I like to read. Sumi._

Kameko swallowed. She took her brush and wrote on the note under the table.

_It's fun to read. Do you like to write? Kameko._

She felt a little uneasy because Tanka-sensei had told them before not to write notes, but she was desperately bored because she had already read the story, and besides, she was curious. Everyone else said that reading was hard and boring. Kameko had always loved it.

_Yes. Do you? Sumi._

_Very much. Kameko._

And they stopped. Sumi did not mention the note after class or at the orphanage. Both of them acted exactly as if nothing had happened, but Kameko's mind was reeling.

The next day, there was a note already waiting for her.

_Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Shona. She was so beautiful that every boy in the world wanted to marry her. And she was a good ninja, too. One day a big giant evil dragon came to the Village she lived in, and it breathed fire everywhere and the princess Shona killed it and everybody was happy and had a big party. The end._

It was accompanied by a stick-figure picture of a girl with her foot on top of a dead dragon.

_Thank-you for the story. Kameko._

_You're welcome. Sumi._

Kameko spent that night working on a sheet of paper with a very concentrated look on her face. Yagato had gotten a box of crayons for her not long ago. She outlined the paper in pink and wrote in her very best characters.

_After Shona killed the dragon and had a party, a big monster came up when everyone was sleeping and it kidnapped Shona's little sister and took her away. When Shona woke up she went after the monster and followed it to its lair and got her sister back plus a lot of jewels and stuff that the monster took. And the monster woke up and said, "Rawr! Why are you taking away my stuff?" And Shona said, "Go away you big bad monster!" And the monster went away. Then it came back to the Village because it was hungry and it ate an apple and then it wasn't bad anymore and it turned into a handsome prince and he and Shona got married and they lived happily ever after. The end._

_I like your story. Thanks. Sumi._

_You're welcome. Kameko._

_Hey, wouldn't it be fun to be Shona? Sumi._

_Yeah. Kameko._

_Do you want to play together after school? Sumi._

_Okay. Let's play Shona. Kameko._


	3. Kameko con

**Chapter 2**

The next year, they had a new teacher whose name was Botan-sensei, and he was much friendlier than Tanka-sensei, and everyone loved him. Many of the seven-year-old girls had crushes on him. He had a dashing twinkle in his eye and jet-black hair and a big voice. Kameko loved him because he, like Tanka-sensei, gave her things to read. She and Sumi were by no means exempt from fancying Botan-sensei, and they quarreled a little over it but decided in the end that they would both marry him when they grew up and happily planned their lives together and drew houses and made up stories.

They loved making up stories about anything. They chattered together about talking trees and super-squirrels, and of course ninjas, and liked adventures, the sillier the better. Every once in a while they would go out with shurinkens carefully (they thought) concealed in their clothes and classroom technique books at the ready (for in their second year they had begun physical training), but were always disappointed to find that noone needed rescuing. They quickly grew out of Shona-games and instead pretended to be famous ninjas taming the clans that had formed the Leaf Village, and driving out enemies and bad guys, and of course there were always handsome shinobi princes who fell in love with them. (This tended to be the crux of the game.)

Their friendship was exclusive. Sumi liked to talk and was constantly trying to engage others in their games of pretend, but noone could keep up with Sumi and Kameko. Both of them broke out of their shells in second year. Still bookworms, but loud, boisterous ones who scorned anyone who had no imagination.

Kameko had almost entirely forgotten about Ren and the house at the edge of the Village.

Third year, both of them fell madly in love with Yoshi, a handsome boy of their age from the Village, and struggled to add him to their circle. Unfortunately, he seemed to sense their feelings and did his best to stay away from them. By fourth year they had calmed down (or at least Kameko did, Sumi still batted her eyelashes at him every chance she got for the rest of the year) and he slowly began to join their games of pretend. He didn't like the "girly" games they played and successfully converted both of them into full tomboys who liked to spit and play jokes and pretend to be powerful ninjas who didn't fall in love with anybody. He also liked reading, though not as much as Sumi or Kameko. He couldn't stand to sit for very long and it made them even more kindly disposed towards him.

In their fifth year they had become the best of friends, all scrawny ten-year-olds, and they spent most of the year looking for a place to build a tree-house, trying to, and failing. Sumi kept on getting spiders in her hair and ants on her arms and she was scared to death of bugs. Eventually they decided they didn't need a house anyways and began to inhabit an old shed with rusty gardening supplies in it. But while it was fun at first it got boring fast and soon they only used the shed when it was really important that they were in private, like when one of them brought cookies and didn't want to share with any of their other classmates.

Sixth year was exciting because Kameko started getting her breasts. Sumi was furiously jealous. They still both thought that all boys except for Yagato, Botan-sensei, and Yoshi were yucky and gross. But still, it was exciting to have breasts, and it was exciting to be looked at by men when they passed by. Kameko glowed that year.

By their seventh year boys were very slowly beginning to approach them. Sumi and Kameko had begun to settle down and fling off their games of pretend, although they still enjoyed making up stories. (They were much better at writing them now.) Sumi took pleasure in rejecting every boy that came her way, but Kameko succumbed to a dare and kissed Sato Minowa _full on the lips_ and they held hands and planned to get married and were boyfriend and girlfriend for about a week before the excitement wore off and they broke up. Kameko, Sumi, and Yoshi were all named best in their year and planned for the future. The next year, they would become genin.

They weren't equal in everything. Kameko was hopeless when it came to taijutsu, she just could not seem to get anything right physically. Sumi, on the other hand, found this her forte. Teachers frowned upon Kameko and smiled upon Sumi and sometimes Kameko was so jealous she wouldn't talk to Sumi, but they would always make up.

But in the second half of the year, they began to spend more time fighting than anything else, and their friendship began to crumble. Sumi became friends with Loka, the red-haired girl who had grabbed Kameko's brush, and spent less and less time with Kameko and Yoshi. By the end of seventh year, they were barely seeing anything of her. Without the talkative Sumi to glue them together, Kameko and Yoshi spent most of their time reading or studying in a silence that felt unnatural.

Sumi didn't talk to Kameko much anymore at the orphanage, either, and when she did she liked to talk about new things like boys in their year and boys out of their year and hair and clothes and "cute" things. She liked to quote Loka. "Loka-chan said this" and "Oh, Loka-chan said that" became such common phrases in her speech that Kameko began to avoid both of them. She sighed and waited for the sun to rise. (Something Yagato had always told her.)

Then, the day came for graduation. The ceremony was brief, and unadorned, and quiet. Kameko was asked to deliver a short speech on behalf of her year. She tried to make it funny and imaginative. When she was done, everyone clapped politely and Botan-sensei stepped onto the platform and began to announce teams. They were to be separated into three-man squads, a new technique with promising results invented by the Hokage. Each would be lead by a senior ninja. Kameko could see the logic. Four was a good number.

"We've chosen these teams--your instructors--based on what we have seen from you in these past eight years. These teams were chosen to compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses. There will be no trade-offs, no switching, no changes. You will be with this team until you either advance or gain a team of your own. You will obey your leader as if he or she were one of us. They have much more to teach you, each will lead in their own way. I hope that you will make the right choices and advance quickly," Botan-sensei said, and he ran his hand through his hair.

"Alright," he said. "Team one: Akimichi Haru, Inuzuka Tani, and Aburame Akira. Team two: Yamanaka Ashura, Hirobumi Udai, and Yazakura Denji. Team three: Maito Suoh, Uchiha Tetsu, and Nara Chikafusa."

And so it went on, separating out their classmates. Yoshi was sitting beside Kameko, his fists clenched tight. He was very nervous. Kameko chewed on the inside of her lip. Neither one of their names was mentioned for a long, long time. Sumi was separated into "Team six: Uchiha Sumi, Aburame Samuru, and Ganko Raiden." (Loka ended up on team eight. The two girls held each other and cried briefly.)

Finally: "Team eleven: Yamanaka Makoto, Uchiha Yoshi, and Uchiha Kameko." Botan-sensei then rolled up the scroll and stepped down from the platform. Students swarmed up to him, crying and laughing alternately.

Kameko, for one, jumped and grinned. Yoshi looked vaguely pleased. She looked at him and held her hand up for a high-five. He tapped it very lightly. Then Sumi's arms were around Yoshi's waist and she was hugging him tightly from behind.

"Oh, Yoshi-kun, I am just going to miss you _so_ much!" she said.

Yoshi jerked out of her arms. "Er, you too, Sumi-chan."

"It's sad that we didn't all get put on the same team, isn't it?" said Sumi, not sounding like she meant it at all. Her voice was unnaturally high and shrill. "But it's good you two got put together, that team will be better for it. The more Uchiha blood, the better!" And she screamed a little laugh that sounded exactly like Loka's. "Loka-chan says that the Uchiha are _simply_ the best, and I have to say I agree with her, we are."

"The Uchiha are no better than anybody else," Kameko said suddenly, for some reason feeling her heart jump. Then she swallowed and tried to grin and make it into a joke.

"Well, I'm not saying they're _better_ than anybody else, it's just that they're better _bred_, you see, because we've been around the longest. Longer than the Senju clan, even!" Sumi said, her eyes sparkling. "You must have heard people talk about it."

"No, I haven't," said Kameko, in what she hoped was a light and conversational tone. Yoshi left. Sumi watched him go.

"Well, it's _very_ important. I've heard that these days, being an Uchiha can get you in with all the right people. So I'm glad _I'm_ one, and you should be glad, too. Your team is probably going to get all the good missions because you have the highest concentration of Uchiha out of all the teams..." She sighed. "Oh well. The rest of us will just have to make do... Oh, got to go, honey, I see Loka waiting. We've got important things to discuss."

And she flounced off, leaving Kameko to digest this.

_Your team is probably going to get all the good missions because you have the highest concentration of Uchiha..._

That didn't sound fair. It just didn't. But even with this thought in her head, Kameko couldn't help but feel a little excited. She knew any advantage would help. Even one as low (her stomach twisted) as this one.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Yoshi, arriving with a short boy with long blond hair Kameko recognized as Makoto. He was well built for thirteen, and had very nice blue eyes, and was wearing no shoes.

"Hello, Makoto-kun," Kameko said, forcing a smile.

"Hi. Kameko-chan, right?" he said, nodding his head. Kameko bowed her head back.

"Yes."

Yoshi looked around. The hubbub was still running strong. Kameko followed his eyes and discovered that he was looking at Sumi, giggling several feet away with Loka. He looked away after a while, seeming irritated.

Both of them had given up hope long ago that Sumi would come back to her senses and be friends with them again. She was just too changed, too different, too _groupy_, Kameko realized. Yoshi and Kameko stuck together, but they didn't really belong to any set group other than themselves. Nor did they want to. Yoshi was of the opinion that most people were, in fact, rather stupid and silly; and Kameko couldn't help but agree.

"She can't think," Yoshi said quietly. "She's just a brainless clone."

A damning insult.

Kameko tightened her lips. "Sometimes...well, yeah."

Somewhere, a little ways away from the crowd, money changed hands.

"That's not nearly enough," protested Botan.

The other, a woman with her hair done up and face powdered deathly white, shifted her eyes towards him behind her fan. She twisted the handle of her umbrella.

"I wanted them _all _on one team, I wanted _three_ Uchihas. There are only two on the team."

Botan sighed and rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm _sorry_. I can only do so much, you know. I couldn't overrule the other teacher's votes. We're lucky I was able to convince them to put Uchiha Kameko and Uchiha Yoshi together. The Yamanaka boy was the natural third choice because he's good with taijutsu and things...they're supposed to compliment each other's weaknesses, and the female can't do taijutsu to save her life."

"I see. What about the Hyuuga? What have you discovered about them?"

This seemed to be a much better topic. Botan leaned back, one hand in his pocket, the other running through his hair. "Here's what I know: Obviously, they haven't allowed any of their children, main branch or side branch, to attend the Academy. They call it indoctrination. Like you guys, they're not very happy with the new system."

"Hm..." The woman seemed to consider this. "But they're loyal?"

"Very loyal, yes."

"They do not like it, but they will not do anything about it..." She closed her eyes and bent her head. The lids were as white as the rest of her face, but her lashes were dark and thick. "Perhaps we should send them an envoy. Perhaps they are merely waiting for allies. After all, it would be impossible, even for the Hyuuga clan, to oppose the Senju on their own..."

She opened her eyes and looked sideways at Botan. "Could that be arranged?"

"For a price, Zhen-sama, always for a price," said Botan, grinning.

"Twice the usual amount," Zhen said, barely smiling and snapping her fan closed. She lifted her chin. "Find out quickly, and it will be triple. Preferably...before our little super-team goes on their first mission."

Kameko strained to look over the tops of heads. Yoshi, a little taller, was having an easier time. Makoto was shorter than both of them, and was contentedly munching on a sandwich, one hand in his pocket, and slouching. He occasionally gave a little glance from side to side.

The crowd of graduating genin was pressing. Students shouted and chattered. Makoto watched two redheaded girls with pigtails hugged each other and cry: they had been placed on separate teams. A few boys sat on a mossy log, some on the ground, listening to a tall boy in the center talk. One short young boy, presumably a relative of one of the graduates, pushed a blonde girl into the mud. Parents chatted with one another; teachers looked about darkly.

"Have the chuunin and jonin arrived yet?" Kameko asked one girl.

"Nuh...I dunno," the girl replied, shrugging her shoulders, and turned back to her friend. "So, they say the Hokage himself was supposed to show up, but these guys showed up in the east and they needed him--"

Responses were the same no matter where they went. Kameko and Yoshi finally settled down on the end of the boys's log. Makoto leaned against a tree. He finished his sandwich and licked his fingers. Yoshi gave him a brief disgusted glance and Makoto hurriedly wiped the hand on his shirt. Kameko sat slouching, her hands clasped in front of her, staring straight ahead.

After several very long minutes, the senior shinobi arrived, causing murmurs to trickle through the crowd. Kameko immediately straightened and looked up.

Ten shinobi, most looking like they were in the onset of their middle years. Muscular. Most of them scarred. One man looked like most of his face had been burnt off long ago. One woman sported a fresh gash near her ear. Several of them had parts of their faces covered. A few of them began to shout the numbers of teams, the names of teammates. One or two simply stood still and let their reputations draw their team towards them. (The genin had been told the name of their instructors soon after the naming of the teams, after Botan had a brief word with a white-faced woman.)

"Look, there's Takamura Nori--" said Makoto, pointing at the old war hero. "And Swasikue Ringo!"

Yoshi took a breath. "Wow. He looks like he could fall apart any second."

Kameko looked about. "Hey. The Hatake clan has silver hair, right?"

"Yes. Do you see him?" asked Yoshi.

"Yes, he's over there," said Kameko, pointing. "C'mon, let's go."

They paused a little ways away from him. Hatake Taro was turned so that they could only see his left profile. Kameko wondered if the other side was scarred. He looked very young. Perhaps not much older than they were. Kameko grabbed Yoshi's hand for an instant, then let go, to get his attention.

"What do you think? Fourteen? Fifteen?" she asked.

Yoshi studied him for a moment. "I'd say at least fifteen."

Taro glanced at them. He seemed to study them for a moment, but then he turned away. Kameko moved forward.

"Excuse me, sir," she said.

He looked at her, body still facing the side, hands in his pockets. "Yes?"

"We're your team--your students. I am--"

"Kameko Uchiha, right? Yoshi and Makoto are boy names," Taro said, yawning. "Well, I suppose you lot had better come with me."

"Is he trying to lose us?" Kameko panted to Yoshi, after several minutes of chasing their instructor. She really was terrible with physical stuff like running.

"Or--maybe we're just slow," Yoshi said.

Taro was doing the unthinkable--running on tops of buildings, leaping to the ground, using some sort of technique to run up the walls. The trio had been following him for a long time, but he showed no signs of stopping. Makoto grunted and held his side after a few minutes--he was developing a cramp.

"I don't think I'll be able to go on much longer," he said. "I wish he'd stop."

The others agreed.

"One of us should run ahead and ask him to stop," suggested Yoshi.

"You go!" Kameko said, squeezing her eyes shut for a second. "Please. I can't take this anymore."

Makoto looked at her. Kameko almost blushed with shame.

"You cramping, too?" he asked, as Yoshi sprinted ahead.

"Yeah," she lied.

Up ahead, they saw Taro stop. Makoto and Kameko skidded to a halt in front of him. Yoshi stood a bit off to the side. They were atop a roof. Many years later, telephone lines would dot the skyline from this point, but for now, it was clear. Resonant blue.

The students tried to look as fresh as possible. Kameko combed her fingers through her sweaty hair. Two bright circles of red had appeared on her cheeks. Yoshi dusted something off the front of his jacket, and then seated himself. The others sat beside him. Taro stood.

In this light, he really was a handsome man. His features were even. The right side of his face, Kameko was relieved to discover, was just as unscarred as his left. His skin was clear and smooth; there was no need as of yet for him to shave. He had a sort of soft, unformed look that didn't look right for an upper-level ninja, but his countenance was overflowing with charisma. Just the sort to lead a team.

"My name," he said," is Hatake Taro, as you already know. You will address me as 'Sensei'...of course." This thought seemed to please him, and he became considerably merrier. "So tell me...your names. Goals? You're all thirteen, am I correct? Only two years younger than I am."

Yoshi smiled slightly. "Uchiha Yoshi," he said.

"Oh, yes," said Taro. He raised one eyebrow. "I have _that_ team."

The trio looked confused.

Taro ran his hand through his hair. "Ah, yes. _That_ team. The only team to have _two_ Uchiha on it. People are expecting you to be a roaring success because of it. I have no doubt you'll be shown favoritism. At least from the pro-Uchiha side. You!" He suddenly said, nodding at Kameko. She straightened. "What do you think of that?"

She looked at the ground to Taro's left. "Honestly, Sensei?" Her eyes flicked up to his. "I think it's preposterous."

"The Uchiha aren't any better than anyone else!" protested Makoto. "No offense, you guys," he added, looking at Yoshi and Kameko.

Their teacher was smiling. "Yes, I would have hoped you would say that. Though the attitude in the Uchiha village is a bit different, I think."

"It is," said Kameko.

Sighing, Taro leaned back against the wall. He looked at his team. His eyes were suddenly very strong.

"One day will come," he said, "when you will have to choose between clan and Village. For everyone, really," he said, nodding at Makoto, "but especially the Uchiha. They're a proud, well-bred race. The worst warrior that ever came from them was still strong. They've always believed that. Madara Uchiha may be dead, but the civil war is still going on. It will take a whole new generation to keep the peace. An old friend of mine...said that once we learned to stop fighting amongst ourselves, we would be able to defeat the world."

Taro straightened up. His face had lost its seriousness. He broke into a wide grin. "Don't you dare think I'm going to let you get away with anything just because you guys are Uchiha, though! Alright, Makoto-kun, tell me about _your_ self while we let this two bigots stew in their own juices..."

Each returned that night to their homes for a final time. Taro informed them, to their mixed delight and shock, that the Hokage had decreed that teams must live together or very close, and the distance between the four of them exceeded the limit.

"Things would be _so_ much simpler if you were a boy, Kameko-chan," Taro mock-complained. "But since you aren't, we can't just set up camp in the woods...we have to get a proper _apartment_, er, _lodging._ So that separate rooms will be available."

Kameko twisted her lip. "What's wrong with camping? I can set up a separate tent, can't I?"

Makoto sniggered. Taro put his hand on Kameko's shoulder.

"Trust me, this is a better idea. Just take my word on it. Where're you located right now, anyway?"

"Orphanage," she said.

"Ah. The building's just by Yanzee. You can't miss it. Blue," he traced a large rectangle in the air.


End file.
